When I first entered the world of marketing and sales, I quickly realised how repetitive the process of securing leads and closing sales could be. It felt like I was in a constant loop, performing the same tasks day in and day out. Midway through my career, I stumbled upon ‘Clickfunnels’, a platform that helped me automate various aspects of the sales process—like lead generation, lead scoring, email marketing, customer relationship management, and closing sales. Automation took over the repetitive tasks, making my workflow much more efficient.
But there is a catch! Automating everything comes with its own set of challenges, primarily the cost. While building my second startup, funds were tight. I remember the cost of using Clickfunnels that year was about $1,000/year. However, when they transitioned to a subscription-based model, my startup couldn’t keep up with the cost, so we cancelled it. This affected a lot of our sales output. In December 2021, I decided to go into paid employment. Once again, I was saddled with working through marketing and sales for yet another startup. I was determined to avoid the challenge of being unable to keep up with the costs and began exploring cost-effective alternatives that did not compromise the benefits of automation.
Before a sale can happen, there are prior tasks and activities that must occur. In a standard sales process, you must:
1. Attract and capture leads (people interested in what you’re selling)
2. Present your offer (the product or service you’re selling)
3. Nurture leads (follow up with people who have shown interest)
4. Close sales (get leads to pay for your product or service)
Capturing Leads Using Google Forms
When I used Clickfunnels, all I needed to capture leads was to customise a landing page template and set the attached form to receive responses. My audience was legal practitioners, so I offered to email them recently decided Supreme Court cases in exchange for their contact information. At the job I got in 2021, my target audience was professionals looking to transition into tech. I promised to give them free access to an introductory tech class—all they needed to do was register with their names and addresses before I could give them the access details. Because most of the budget was dedicated to paying for ads alone, I decided to test out Google Forms. All I did was attach the link of a custom Google Form to any ad we pushed out. I found it to be a great, cost-effective alternative for lead capturing.
Using Zapier to Trigger Email Campaigns in Mailchimp
Once you capture a lead, it is important to start nurturing them right away by telling them more about what you’re selling and why it is useful to them. During the time I used Clickfunnels, I set up a workflow to trigger a series of three emails that would:
1. Immediately deliver on the promise I made before they gave me their contact
2. Welcome the lead and tell them what to expect over the next couple of days
3. Present a paid product or service
To achieve this workflow, I needed to collate all the leads I captured in Google Forms and filter them into an automation tool that would allow me to text or email access details to the people who wanted to attend the introductory classes. I decided to use Mailchimp because it starts charging after your leads list reaches the 2,000 mark. This process started manually, but to speed things up, I introduced Zapier into the mix. Zapier is an online workflow tool that automates repetitive tasks. It is designed to move information between two apps without requiring manual input or coding skills.
While paid, it allows limited access to its paid services. Once I connected Google Forms to the free Mailchimp account using Zapier, I set it to trigger a set of five email reminders that went out every day for five days, leading up to the day of the introductory class. Although it involved many moving parts, this setup replicated the functionality of Clickfunnels at no cost. And even when it required payment, it was at a fraction of the cost.
Creating Sales Presentation Templates with Google Slides
While building my startup, I automated my sales presentation in Clickfunnels by customising the landing pages to include embedded, pre-recorded sales videos, captivating copy, and a buy button. At my job with the tech folks, replicating this was trickier due to the subject-specific nature of our introductory classes. Each sales presentation had a specific teaching segment and a generic sales pitch that needed to be customised for each subject. So I created a sales presentation template to ensure consistency and professionalism across all presentations.
Conducting Live Sales Presentations with Google Meet
Next, I opted to do all sales presentations live, using Google Meet, to allow for real-time interaction and a more personalised experience for our leads. While I couldn’t fully automate the live sales presentations, using Google Meet streamlined the process and ensured engaging and dynamic sessions. Who knows, if I had tested pre-recording, what the outcome could have been.
By tapping into the free versions of tools like Google Forms, Zapier, Mailchimp, Google Slides, and Google Meet, I cracked the code to sales automation that remained efficient and effective and I did all this without emptying the bank. With a sprinkle of creativity and resourcefulness, businesses of all sizes can use automation to elevate their sales game.
Your Next Step
Work in sales or marketing? Don’t wait! Start small. Pick ONE tool from this article and experiment with it TODAY. Take that first step towards automating your sales process and watch your results soar!
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